Building, Living, Thinking

• Lecture by [Heidegger
• Included in the Japanese translation of “[What is technology?
• English: Building Dwelling Thinking

2022-01-15-17

• It was introduced in Phenomenology as an illogical stage. In particular, Eugene T. Gendlin focuses on “dwell-think” in this text, and I was interested in what he meant by the connection between reside and think, since I had never felt such a strong relationship between the two that I hyphenated them.
• It’s hard to introduce it because it’s written in scattered parts, but here, for example

• We do not need to surrender what is already formed. When we precisely understand its formed intricacy, that is just when we exceed its forms. When we don’t understand a book, we can only quote it. To understand it is to dwell-think in its forms, and that is more precise than the forms.

• Translation: We need not surrender to “what is already structured. When we understand a complex structure accurately, that is the moment to go beyond that structure. When we read a book and do not understand it, we can only quote it. To understand a book is to dwell-think within its structure, which is a more accurate understanding than the written structure.
  • In other words, “Understanding is dwell-think.” This is information I can’t miss as I want to understand what understanding is.
• Understanding is living and thinking.

Heidegger wrote

• Thinking itself also belongs to living, in the same sense as building, but in a different way.

• In other words, it is necessary to first understand in what sense building belongs to living.
• Heidegger considers what these words “build” and “dwell” meant in the ancient language, rather than what the words mean today.
  • In the modern interpretation, “building” is done for the purpose of “living,” and “building” is a means to “living,” and the two are recognized as two separate acts.
  • But in the ancient language, “to build” = “to live”.
    • This “dwell” was a concept closely related to “stay” and “be present.”
  • From this, Heidegger believes that “to build is essentially to dwell” and that “to dwell is the fundamental trend of human existence.
• Next, Heidegger delves into “building
  • In addition to the meaning “to build,” which is similar to the modern “to construct a ship or temple,” the word “build” is associated with the meanings “to cultivate a field,” “to grow grapes,” “to protect the growth of plants and trees that naturally bear fruit,” “to care for,” “to look after,” and “to labor over.
  • In light of this, Heidegger believes that “the fundamental trend of dwelling is to labor.
    • By “exertion,” Heidegger is referring to “active” or “bringing something back to its essence.”
• Interpreting a word back to its original meaning rather than its modern meaning, as Heidegger has done up to this point, is a form of “laboring”.
  • This is not explicitly stated.
  • Heidegger wrote, “Thinking itself belongs to dwelling in the same sense as building, but in a different way. This may be testified to in the path of contemplation we have attempted in this issue.” He writes.
  • The whole thing makes sense if we consider that “interpreting a word back to its original meaning rather than its modern meaning,” which is done in this “tried and true path of contemplation,” is a kind of “laboring” in the sense of “actively bringing something back to its essence.
  • In other words, such a kind of “thinking” is “laboring,” and since it is “building,” it is “dwelling. In this sense, “thinking itself, in the same sense as building, belongs to dwelling” is valid.
  • I say “but in a different way” because “building” is creating “things as places” and not “laboring” in the same way.
    • (I did not explain how to do this because it is not the main topic of this page, but the original text says quite a lot about it.)
• About understanding and dwell-think
  • Heidegger’s approach was to return to the original meaning of a word and look at its relationship to other words as a concrete way of working with it.
    • Original meaning, not modern meaning
  • One specific approach I took to laboring was to look at the words Heidegger used and see how they relate to other words, without interpreting them arbitrarily.
    • Not the dictionary meaning, but the meaning Heidegger was trying to express.
    • Words were placed on the Kozaneba to visualize the relationship.
  • So both are “laboring = thinking” (schonen-denken).
    • This is dwell-think because labor is the fundamental trend of dwelling
    • As Eugene T. Gendlin said in Phenomenology as an illogical stage, “When we read a book and cannot understand it, we can only quote it. To understand a book is to dwell-think within its structure, which is a more accurate understanding than the written structure.” Let’s recall the
    • By this dwell-think process, I am not just quoting what Heidegger wrote, but I am able to verbalize what is not written, “It’s not written, but if you think of it this way, it makes sense overall” = more accurate understanding than the written structure.
    • It adds up against both Heidegger and Eugene Gendlin as I’m doing in this paragraph now.

--- History

• 2021-12-08 Understanding is thinking within a mold.

  • Understood: Dwelling” and the Kozane Law.

    • And then I wrote, “Do I really understand him?” I wondered, and decided to read what Heidegger wrote
• 2021-12-10 A quick read - Building, Living, Thinking: A Quick Read
  • I decided that it is not the type of text that can be skimmed and understood, so it needs to be read carefully.
• 2021-12-25, 2022-01-11, 2022-01-13 Kozaneba:dwell-think - Dwelling” and the Kozane Law wrote: “Understanding = Hypothesis.” - > “By creating a pseudo “symbolic space for the other party” through the placement of sticky notes, we can “live” by working within that space.
  • To verify if this “understanding = hypothesis” is correct, we put it into practice and observed the results.
    • I found that my initial interpretation of “dwell” was different from what Heidegger meant by the word “dwell”.
• 2022-01-13
  • Heidegger’s approach was to return to the original meaning of a word and look at its relationship to other words as a concrete way of working with it.
    • Original meaning, not modern meaning
  • One specific approach I took to laboring was to look at the words Heidegger used and see how they relate to other words, without interpreting them arbitrarily.
    • Not the dictionary meaning, but the meaning Heidegger was trying to express.
  • So both are “laboring = thinking.”

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